Using paint to boost energy efficiency
Have you ever used paint to lower your energy bills? I want to hear your thoughts, tips and ideas. I am working on an infographic about using paint to boost energy efficiency. Let me know if you have done any of the following:
Used light-colored paint to reflect more daylight throughout your home to reduce the number of lights you need to switch on, created a cool roof using paint, painted your home with a reflective paint to reduce cooling costs, or beefed up your insulation with a radiant control coating?
Used light-colored paint to reflect more daylight throughout your home to reduce the number of lights you need to switch on, created a cool roof using paint, painted your home with a reflective paint to reduce cooling costs, or beefed up your insulation with a radiant control coating?
2 answers
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As with any project directed at energy efficiency you have to weigh the cost of installation to the savings of energy costs. There's no point in spending several hundred dollars to recoup an annual energy savings of 20 bucks. Many so called energy savers cost far more to implement than any energy savings accumulated over a 10 or even 20 year period. Painting a roof, well painting won't work. Using a much more expensive reflective roof coating does but product cost make the energy savings negligible before factoring in labor. The same is true for exterior paint. The nature of how radiant barriers and coatings work require an air gap so that the energy absorbed buy the barrier is expelled through convection and allowed to escape before entering the house or building. And, FYI, insulation and radiant barriers are two completely different beasts and work on completely different principals, i.e., one being a convection insulator meaning air transference while the other being a UV insulator meaning radiation transference. An effective application of a radiant barrier is more than simply installing a reflective coating on one side. I like the concept of your article but as a professional remodeling contractor and business owner for the past 25 years and one that has personally dealt with many of these very issues, I question whether or not any article you would compose would only further facilitate the misconceptions and misinformation that frustrate the remodeling and construction industry as a whole and the homeowners that have spent their hard earned money to see little if any savings.
D & K
on Feb 02, 2015
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There has been quite a bit of talk about using paints to reflect heat and to save energy that I have read on LinkedIn and some other sites that I follow. However while many manufactures claim that there are tremendous savings in using their products, There is very little true scientific independent proof that any of these products really do anything other than make the companies rich. There is little doubt that bright colors will reflect and in turn help with lighting requirements, Here is a link for UTUBE video that may help shed some light on these bogus paints. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0VeTf1Ncuo Although a bit older it still is true.
Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com
on Feb 02, 2015
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